D.C. Metro chief fears for other rail systems

Metro General Manager John B. Catoe Jr. said problems traced to a 30-year-old computer system being eyed in connection with last month’s train crash could have consequences for transit systems nationwide.

He made the comments during a wide-ranging interview with editors and reporters at The Washington Times on Thursday, a day after the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said it was looking at track circuit modules in a control room near the Fort Totten Metro station in connection with the June 22 crash that killed nine people and injured more than 80.

“With this, depending again what they ultimately find, could be much larger. It’s an issue, depending upon what they find, not just for [the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority]. We’re not the only one with this type of system. Most rail operations around the country have a similar system to this,” said Mr. Catoe, who insisted he was speculating and distanced himself from the NTSB investigation.

“If they find, let’s say, that there’s a defect in the part, then you have to look at all the parts around the country because there’s only two manufacturers of those parts,” he said.

Mr. Catoe said he could not comment on the ongoing crash investigation but that he had his own suspicions about the cause of the crash.

“I don’t have any doubt that it was in the train-control system,” he said.

The total financial cost of the accident is unclear, but Mr. Catoe said the least amount Metro likely will pay will be the insurance deductible of $5 million per accident.

The cost has already been borne in other ways. Metro’s insurance premiums, which were renewed July 1, nearly doubled to $8 million per year, he said. He said the costs don’t account for whatever solution the NTSB ultimately will recommend.

“I know there’s something we’re going to have to do,” he said. “Something will come out of this that needs to be replaced. And I don’t know what that is yet,” he said.

Indications are that the final price tag for the cash-strapped system could be in the billions of dollars.

Before the accident, Metro was in the process of replacing the 1000-series rail cars to accommodate a past NTSB recommendation at a cost of $900 million. The NTSB wants Metro to implement a new fail-safe system, which must be designed and built, that will digitally monitor and automatically create trouble tickets for the system. It is expected to cost almost $1 billion, Mr. Catoe said.

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